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Prior to Pike Liberal Arts’ basketball game on Tuesday night, the school formally introduced new head football coach and athletic director Phillip Coggins to the PLAS community.

Coggins spoke to the crowd on hand at the game but even before that, he got a chance to meet his Patriots for the first time.

“I was able to meet the team and there seemed to be some genuine excitement from those guys, which is exciting for me,” Coggins said. “The school has welcomed me with open arms and has been extremely good to me and my wife. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity we have.”

As Coggins is finishing up his duties at Chilton County High School, he will officially begin working full-time at PLAS on Feb. 1 and plans to hit the ground running.

“Day one, we want to get in the weight room with the guys and get to know them to start building relationships,” he said. “We want to make sure that our strength and conditioning program is on par with what it takes to be successful in the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

“I know the team has had a ton of success in the AISA but it’s a different competition level in AHSAA. I know the school has the resources to compete at this level and I’m excited to get here on Wednesday and get in the weight room and start building those relationships.”

Coggins has also already started to think about the upcoming spring, summer and fall workouts. PLAS doesn’t currently have a spring game scheduled and Coggins said that the school would likely keep it that way so as to be able to have an extra week of practices in the fall.

“There isn’t a (spring) game scheduled and it’s difficult to schedule one at this point. We will probably take advantage of that extra week of practice in the fall instead,” he said. “We will do a lot of work (in the spring) but we can’t have helmets or equipment on in a formal practice session. We definitely will have some workouts though, just trying to get the offense and defense installed is our primary objective for the spring. We want to refine all of that in the summer and get some competition in with 7-on-7s, as well.”